Team
by Persephone-Sings
Summary: Prequel to "Precious", Hinata, Gaara, and Naruto all find out exactly who their new team is. Will Tsunade be able to convince all three to take each other on as teammates?
1. Team Hinata's Reaction

Title: Team-Hinata's response.

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: November 27, 2004

Author's note: Well, here's part one of this three-part section of an endless number of stories involving my favorite Naruto ninja :). It is a prequel to _Precious. _Read it in any order you want, though. Hope you enjoy it!

**Team-Hinata's response.**

A timid knock on the door brought Tsunade's head blearily up from her desk. A glance at the clock told her that her visitor was promptly on time and that she had been asleep for close to two hours. She rubbed her head sheepishly and hoped Shizune wouldn't hear about it. If she did then Tsunade would never _stop_ hearing about it.

She yawned, stretched, and called for her visitor to enter.

Hyuuga Hinata, still as pale as the day Tsunade first saw her, entered the office of the Fifth Hokage with a nervous energy that destroyed all of Tsunade's carefully sought-after relaxation. Making a mental note to work on her self-confidence, Tsunade motioned her into a chair with a broad smile.

"My, Hinata, look at you! You must have grown six inches since the last time I saw you!"

"Hokage, I haven't grown an inch since I turned fourteen, as you well know. But thank you for pretending." Tsunade blinked, surprised that such a dry tone of voice could come out of someone who, just a second ago, looked like she was about to drop to the floor in a dead faint. Well, she thought pleasantly shocked, looks like someone's been working on her undercover skills. Keeping up an expected image was an excellent way to slip into any situation.

Propping her chin on her hand, Tsunade watched the young woman expectantly. She wasn't going to feed Hinata the information. Hinata should have realized teams would change when Shikamaru, Temari, Neji, and Sasuke were promoted to Jounin level.

Hinata settled back into her seat without the sigh she wanted to make. She always dreaded coming into the Hokage's office. Whenever she did, something was bound to change. Not that she wasn't ready for a change. Kiba and Shino were wonderful teammates, but they only saw her as the shy little girl who had gotten utterly destroyed during her battle with her cousin. Overprotective and more than slightly blockheaded, the two men refused to dual with her for any longer than twenty minutes and using less than half their true strength. Frustrating? Immensely.

Hinata was by no means stupid, and she realized she hadn't changed as much as she wanted to. She was still shy around strangers and still less inclined to battle before trying to make peace than most ninja in the village. She was, however, slowly gaining more control over her powers and increasing them as quickly as possible with two teammates who refused to hurt her in the least. Finding herself through a change in personality hadn't been what she had really been expecting. If anything, instead of becoming slightly cynical and more than a little sarcastic, she had hoped to blossom like Ino and Sakura had. She had wanted to be able to stun people with her sharp intellect rather than her sharp tongue. She had wanted to be noticed as powerful and beautiful, rather than as the ex-heir of the powerful Hyuuga clan. What she had gotten, instead, was a rather bad habit of blurting out her true feelings in front of people when angry (part of the reason, she was sure, that she was no considered a former member of the Hyuuga clan) and forgetting even the most basic of information when confronted with a tense situation.

A pointedly cleared throat called her back to the present and she sent a flustered smile towards her Hokage, a little upset that she had let herself wander like that. Sending a mental note to start working harder at paying attention to her surroundings, Hinata began their meeting.

"I imagine, Hokage, that you wanted to meet with me to give me the names of my next team, right? Though I am a bit confused as to why you needed to meet face to face. Aren't we usually given the names by our latest sensei?"

Tsunade nodded, "You are correct and yes, normally your current sensei would transfer the information to you. But your situation is special. Your team is special. In fact, you are the first person in your team that I am telling because if you have an objection, I will remove you and rework the teams."

"That won't be necessary, I assure you. Whatever you have chosen is fine."

Tsunade shot Hinata a dark look, "Are you patronizing me?"

Hinata flushed and bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I'm so used to following orders in my family that I sometimes forget people are actually asking me something because they want my answer. I'll let you know if I don't think I will be able to handle it."

Laughing, Tsunade inwardly hoped Hinata wouldn't run away screaming. She would be good for her teammates.

"Well then, let me tell you you're teammates' names." She slid a folder across the table and waited until Hinata had opened it. She pointed to the first picture. "Uzumaki Naruto will be your first teammate. I believe you know him quite well?" A raised eyebrow had the color rising back into Hinata's cheeks.

She glared at her Hokage, "I think we both know how disastrously stupid I was, thank you for bringing it up. He never even knew at all, did he?" Tsunade shook her head in answer and Hinata sighed. "Too bad the rest of the village did." She laughed a little at herself, glad that she no longer felt a twinge at the thought of everyone seeing her feelings laid bare.

Tsunade flipped to the next page and watched Hinata's face carefully. "This is your second teammate. Gaara of the Sand, well, soon to be former Sand ninja. He will be taking the entrance exam to becoming a Konoha ninja three months from now."

Hinata looked at the picture in front of her. A young man with shockingly dark red hair watched her through weary green eyes. His face was haggard and her fingers ached to brush his hair out of his eyes. The tattoo on his pale skin seemed to glow with an inner fire and she wondered if it would be hot to the touch.

Hinata, feeling her Hokage's gaze on her, raised her eyes reluctantly from his picture. "Are you waiting for me to run screaming?"

Tsunade gave her a weak smile and nodded. "You bet your ass I am. Do you have any plans to run straight through the door? Should I open it for you?"

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "I'm not planning on running anywhere. Why should I?"

Glad she had been proven right, Tsunade wished she had gone through with the bet against Genma. "Well, you have seen him in action, I presume?" Hinata nodded. "Does that not scare you, Hinata? The power that he has and the willingness he has to use it?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Hinata's eyes were drawn again to the photo on the desk. She brushed a finger across his image. Her voice barely above a whisper, she made her final decision.

"He's lonely, Hokage. So lonely."


	2. Team Naruto's Reaction

Title: Team-Naruto's Reaction

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: November 27, 2004

Author's note: Here's part two of three! I've decided to keep each mini-series smaller simply because it's easier for the reader (I know I get stuck on multi-parts for hours and read them all in one sitting!) and easier for me because I have so many ideas in my head that I want to throw them all out immediately. Anyway, enjoy part two!

**Team-Naruto's Reaction.**

Tsunade wasn't sure how she felt about her next meeting. Hinata's decision had, to be honest, shocked her right out of her sleep-induced lethargy. She had expected her to immediately reject the idea and had already begun thinking of replacement Chuunin. It was an excellent thing Hinata had agreed to the team because she hadn't been able to think of a single person she would rather have be the third teammate than Hinata.

Naruto, on the other hand, well, she had no qualms about this meeting. She knew he'd jump at the chance to get out of his broken team. With Sakura mooning over an extremely powerful Jounin Sasuke, it must have been unbearable for Naruto to be caught in the middle.

She often felt bad thinking about Naruto because it had been her decision to keep his immensely growing powers secret from the rest of the village, which was the reason he was only now being promoted to Chuunin level. She didn't him to experience any more hostility from her decidedly close-minded villagers than he already got. If they found out the power he held in one single palm, she couldn't quite dismiss the image of a lynching with Naruto as the main character. Holding him back, however, made her nauseous and guilty and sad and angry all at the same time. She put him with Gaara and Hinata because she knew she could trust them to keep quiet about Naruto's true strength and still enable him to grow more powerful.

"Good morning, Hokage! Looking a little old today, aren't you?" Grumbling, Tsunade turned to look at the energetic blonde who hadn't even knocked before entering.

"Naruto, anyone ever tell you who you remind them of?" Naruto shook his head and plopped down into the chair in front of her desk. "You bear a remarkable resemblance to Jiraiya."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Oi, do you mean the perverted geezer?" Tsunade nodded serenely and watched, delighted, as sake flowed from a warm bottle into her too-small cup. Thinking to herself that she needed to find a larger glass, she smiled at Naruto's offended expression and settled in for a nice afternoon with a good friend.

"Do you know why I asked you here, Naruto?"

He eyed her sake cup, "You trying to get me drunk, old lady?"

Tsunade swatted the searching hand away from her cup and glared, "You're not yet seventeen, Naruto! Are you insane? How dare you imply that your _Hokage_ would break the law so flippantly?"

Naruto glared back, "You do realize that you're full of bull shit, right? Or am I the only one who remembers New Years Eve last year when you practically threw me the bottle?"

Tsunade crossed her arms defensively and jutted her chin up. "Of course I don't remember, Naruto. I was _drunk_."

He sighed in exasperation and gave up. "What did you want me here for?"

Tsunade pushed a folder across the desk to him and motioned for him to open it.

"This is your new team assignment."

Naruto looked blankly at the page in front of him and raised his eyes to Tsunade's.

"I don't think I understand. New team, I get that part. My team is so dysfunctional it's a wonder we survived the three years we were together. But, Hyuuga Hinata?" He glanced back down at the picture in front of him and frowned. A sweet, pretty girl was the first thing that he saw. But he also saw her eyes. Hyuuga eyes.

"Do you object? Do you think she's not good enough for your team?" Tsunade understood that what he saw wasn't the real Hinata. The sharp-witted, open-minded, tenderly powerful young woman who saw in Gaara what no one else, besides Naruto, even glimpsed. Loneliness. Heartbreaking, utter loneliness that devastated it's owners.

"Not good enough? Of course she is. You didn't see her fight Neji, but I'm telling you, Tsunade. She could be a powerhouse if she just let it rip. But, a Hyuuga?"

Tsunade wrinkled her nose at him. "I'm not following you. Explain."

Naruto sighed and shifted awkwardly in his chair. "I heard she already has some problems with her family. Do you really think it's a good idea to put her on a team with the town demon?" Tsunade felt her insides melt into a gooey puddle of motherly love as she finally realized that Naruto was only worried about Hinata being a part of his team because of his reputation.

Resisting the urge to hug him, because he always complained, Tsunade smiled widely at him instead. "Well, to put your mind at ease, Hinata is no longer an official Hyuuga. She kept the last name, but she moved out almost three months ago. She was removed from being the heir and was given an ultimatum. She refused and they kicked her out."

"What was the ultimatum?"

Tsunade's smile lost its place to a sad frown. "You'll need to ask you, it's rather personal."

Anyway, now that you have no more objections to Hinata, let's move on to your next teammate."

Tsunade flipped the page for Naruto, because he was still staring at Hinata's picture. His eyes widened when he saw the next person on the page.

"No way!"

Tsunade looked up startled; she hadn't expected him to refuse immediately. "Naruto, let me explain my reasoning."

He jumped up onto his chair and pumped his arm up to the ceiling.

" _HOT DAMN_ !!! This is too cool! I'm teammates with one of the most powerful ninja in the country! _YES!!!_"

Tsunade fell back against her chair with a huff and rolled her eyes.

How she ever doubted his response she would never know.


	3. Team Gaara's Reaction

Title: Team: Prequel to _Precious_

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: November 27, 2004

Author's Note: Part three of three! Look for another story soon :)

**Team: Part One-Gaara's Reaction**

Tsunade winced as she watched Gaara's fist slam into the top of her solid cherry wood desk.

"How can you do this? What are you thinking?" Tsunade sighed as she morosely observed the hand-sized dent now marring her once-beautiful piece of furniture.

"I should make you pay for that, you know." She mumbled under her breath as he turned away from her to glance out the window into the yard. She knew what he was looking at. His new team was waiting for her signal to come into the room and meet their third teammate.

He turned his head slightly towards her but didn't quite meet her eyes. "I apologize. But that is just one more reason why I shouldn't be placed on a team such as this! You're being purposefully dense about this, Tsunade. They can't handle me!"

Tsunade's heart went out to him, this young man not quite seventeen but who had already seen a lifetime of pain and suffering.

She understood his concern. His self-control still slipped sometimes, especially when he was agitated or concerned for other people. As he was now. Gaara of the Sand was supposed to be the most fearsome ninja of all time. 'A merciless killing machine who could finish any job' was how the Kazekage had advertised him to other villages. But she knew, after watching him in battle and even watching him in everyday life. Gaara was not a monster but he was afraid and alone and wary of others, which was precisely why she placed him in the team she had decided on. If he was to have a chance being integrated into Konoha, these two Chuunin ninja would accomplish it and would be able to help him.

"Gaara," She waited for him to turn fully and face her. "Why are you trying to become a Konoha ninja?"

His shoulders hunched defensively and his brows drew together. "I wanted to leave the Sand village. I want to try and find a way to live a better life than what I have been living."

She smiled at him and rose to join him at the window.

She nudged him with her arm and ignored when his sand flared up to stop her touch by reflex. "That's right, Gaara. You want to live." She nodded her head in the team's direction, the two ninja waiting outside. "So does he and so does she. They are just like you. Misunderstood, feared, ignored, underestimated in any category, and underappreciated."

He eyed his new team with something akin to interest before turning his head away.

"That makes me not want to be with them even more. I don't want to hurt them by mistake."

She shrugged, "To be honest, I'm not sure if you could. Didn't Naruto beat you the last time you two fought? And Hinata has grown much stronger than when you last saw her."

Gaara felt his eyebrow twitch at her mention of his most humiliating defeat.

"Thank you for that humbling reminder, Tsunade. It isn't really Uzumaki Naruto that has me worried." He tapped his finger against the glass windowpane at the young woman sitting next to the energetic young man. "It's her. She is too weak. No matter how strong she grows, Hinata has no monster inside of her like I or Naruto do. If I was to lose control, how would she stop me? I haven't had enough training to be able to always control Shukaku's calling. I would never forgive myself if she, an innocent and even my teammate, was harmed."

Throwing him a grin, Tsunade, with a confidence even she didn't quite feel, said, "Well then, guess you'll just have to not lose control then, eh?"

He looked at her, disbelief clearly written on his face. "You certainly don't ask for much, do you?"

Tsunade hummed in mock sympathy and swung around to march to the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she stopped and turned back to him.

"Gaara, I wouldn't have placed them with you if I didn't think all three of you could handle it. Remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" With that, she swept out of the room to bring up the next team member.

Gaara watched her go with troubled eyes. His gaze was once again drawn back to the two ninja laughing together outside. His eyes widened when he saw that they had stopped laughing and instead appeared to be looking straight at him. The back of his neck prickled and he resisted the urge to rub it.

Prepared for them to turn away in disgust or fear or hate as he was used to, instead, Uzumaki Naruto gave him a great big wave of his arm from one side to the next, almost knocking into his friend. Hyuuga Hinata watched him a second longer and then sent a small smile up to him.

His hand lifted to rub unconsciously at his chest over his heart. He couldn't decide which act affected him more: Naruto's very open greeting or Hinata's conservative, private hello.

Slightly panicked, he couldn't think of how to reciprocate their greeting but by the time he had thought to wave back (he wasn't sure, later on, if he would even have been able to return their gestures), they were gone.

He lifted his eyes heavenward and sighed. If this didn't work, he wasn't sure what he would do.


	4. Team Together

Title: Team-Together

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: November 28, 2004

Author note: This is thenext sectionof Team. I was going to end it at Gaara, but I decided they should all meet face to face first. I think there might even be another chapter after this before I start on the next story.

**Team-Together**

Gaara blinked again, to make sure his two new teammates had really left the yard. They had.

Panicked, he wondered if Tsunade would really bring them up to see him so soon. Would they change their minds? How bloodshot were his eyes today? He hadn't noticed before he left his cramped apartment and he wished that he had. He glanced down at his clothes and rubbed ineffectively at wrinkles and the perpetual dust from his sand that always seemed to coat him as soon as he left the apartment.

His gaze landed on his gourd and he couldn't decide even now if his decision to leave the Sand Village and try to change his life was a good one. He didn't even know if he could do it or if he really wanted to put in the immense effort he knew would be needed. Would people even notice? And if they did, would they care? He had always been horrible at reading people and now that he was constantly in contact with them, he felt the loss much more than when he had been truly anti-social.

A muffled voice outside the door caused his sand to hiss in its container and he had to repress the instant reaction to defend or attack that still hit him every time he was in the company of others. The effort to repress it wasn't horribly large, but he could feel Shukaku writhing angrily in his mind at the constant repression. He could feel a headache come on and he brushed a hand against his temple, feeling it throb.

"Oi, old lady, what did he say?" Uzumaki Naruto, no just Naruto, now was outside the door. He imagined that Hinata accompanied Tsunade and Naruto. He wondered if it was because there was supposed to be safety in numbers. He also wondered if they truly knew that no number would matter. If he wanted them dead, they would be dead.

With a heavy sigh, Tsunade pushed open the heavy door and entered her office. If she noticed the young man standing defensively by the other exit (she wondered idly if windows truly counted as exits without stairs) she didn't mention it and neither did the other two.

Naruto bounded into the room and almost immediately Gaara had to fight down the urge to pin him to the chair to stop his energetic movements. His constant motion was upsetting to someone who preferred being still and Gaara knew his headache would get much worse before leaving the office.

Naruto threw himself into a chair and grinned at Gaara, waiting for some kind of response in return. Not knowing what he expected, Gaara nodded at him and shifted uneasily.

Hinata entered the room a few seconds after Naruto, though much more sedately, and Gaara was immediately grateful for her fluid, soft movement. It was soothing in a way, which irked at the Sand ninja more than he liked to admit. He wasn't used to having anything be soothing and he wasn't sure if he liked the way it made his shoulders relax a tiny bit or the fact that he could almost feel his sand settling back into the gentle rolling motion it made inside the gourd.

Seeing him watching her, Hinata sent him a timid smile, wondering exactly what she was getting herself into. He nodded stiffly back at her and she noticed the tension around his eyes and mouth. It made her feel a little better. He was nervous. She was nervous. And even though Naruto acted as confidently as he usually did, the set of his shoulders told her he was feeling the strain as well.

Tsunade cleared her throat expectantly and waited for the new team to turn their attention to her.

"I've met with you all privately, and you have all agreed to become teammates, am I correct?"

Naruto glanced at Hinata, who nodded, and then at Gaara, who just threw him a glance before turning back to Tsunade. Taking the cryptic look as a 'yes', Naruto smiled, if a little tightly, at his Hokage and said, "You bet your ass, old lady!"

Glaring, the young-looking old lady wrote out a physical note to knock Naruto upside the head after their meeting and continued.

"Then, with that out of the way, I don't have any Jounin available to monitor you, so I expect you to train on your own until I can find one I can spare. You know where the training grounds are, as well as the training scrolls, right?"

Naruto scratched his head, confused. "Training . . . scrolls? Why would we have training scrolls?"

"What, do you think we all just memorize everything from generation to generation? Think how messed up folklore gets after five generations of verbally being passed down! Can you imagine how horrible the jutsus would turn out? Che, I can't believe it. Did you ever go to class, Naruto?" Chuckling, Tsunade wrote down the location for the training scrolls and handed it to Hinata.

Taking the slip of paper, Hinata laughed, "Whenever he was in class, Naruto didn't manage to stay awake for more than ten minutes. It's a wonder he remembers anything at all from school."

Making a loud protest, Naruto turned to Gaara for support, automatically searching for another male in the room. Gaara, not knowing what he wanted, just watched him in confusion.

Seeing this as support for Hinata and Tsunade's comment, Naruto groaned and threw his arm across his forehead. "I'm defeated from all angles! Gee, man, we need to work on your support of your fellow man! We can't let women run all over us, you know!"

Knowing he had missed something, Gaara shook his head, hoping a 'yes' would be the answer Naruto was looking for. Apparently it was, and relieved, Gaara moved from his position by the window. He could feel Shukaku getting even more restless and he knew he would have to go hunting in the woods to feed his demon.

"I have to leave now."

All three people watched him go, wondering at the abrupt exit. Tsunade motioned for the other two to follow and Naruto immediately left, hollering for Gaara to wait up.

Hinata remained seated, obviously waiting for a moment alone.

"No Jounin available? No offense, Hokage, but isn't that a bit of an overstatement? I see Jounin all over the place but they don't seem to be on missions or anything."

Watching the young woman who seemed to catch every lie Tsunade tried to pass, she responded with a weary sigh.

"Those two guys will be so far ahead of any Jounin I have here within a week of training with the scrolls that it seems like a waste to assign one to your team when I could use them for missions and watch duties."

Eyes wide, Hinata ignored the omission of her name and spoke quietly, "I didn't realize they were so far ahead of everyone else. Why are they not Jounin then?"

Tsunade shrugged, "You know Naruto's reputation and you know Gaara's. You might not know why, but I imagine you've pieced together the puzzle from watching them fight. If I was to promote them to Jounin so quickly, the villagers would make their very lives a living hell. Sasuke and Temari and Shikamaru are another story altogether. Respected families, respected children, and admired abilities, those three have no problem being accepted. Naruto and Gaara, I'm afraid, will not. I know you're still wondering why I put you with them so readily. Your powers, admittedly, are far weaker than yours. But your potential is there for growth. I needed to take you out of your team, where they refused to train with you because they feared for hurting you, and put you into a situation where you absolutely need to grow in order to keep up. Also, and probably more importantly, I think you're the only person I can truly feel confident in to team up with these two. I think you can help develop their emotions and what they present to the outside world."

Hinata nodded absently, churning the thoughts in her head. The tremendous weight of responsibility weighed her down already and she wished that she knew how to start. Forgetting herself for a second, Hinata's hands starting fidgeting, something she had thought she had managed to break more than a year ago.

A warm hand covered her own, stopping their motion. "Hinata, it's alright. Look at it this way; you can't screw them up anymore than they already are, right?" She grinned proudly, already feeling the easing of responsibility. She had every bit of her faith resting on the slim shoulders of this young woman. " Feel better?"

Raising an eyebrow, Hinata idly wondered if Tsunade was drunk.

What had she gotten herself into?


	5. Team Making it Work

Title: Team- Making It Work

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/01/04

Author's note: Enjoy the next part and thanks for all the great reviews!

**Making It Work**

By the time Naruto had reached the walkway outside Tsunade's office, there was no sight of Gaara. Looking around, he wondered what could have sent the guy off in such a hurry.

Leaning against the railing to wait for Hinata, Naruto considered the fact that his third teammate could just not be a very sociable guy. Based on what Gaara was, a vessel for a demon like Naruto, he could understand why Gaara would be wary of forming attachments. Hell, until Naruto had formed team Seven, he hadn't really had the opportunity to form relationships. And even though Naruto had never liked the thought of being alone, the thought of getting close to people had frightened him more than he would have liked to admit.

So, he could understand where Gaara was coming from, if not where he was planning on going. He figured that if he could just take it slow with the Sand ninja, they'd be able to become friends. Until then, Naruto would have to settle for a really powerful teammate and a (hopefully) great sparring partner.

Having Hinata as their third member would be a little awkward at first. Naruto was never sure how much strength or power he could use around her. He didn't want to frighten her and he certainly didn't want to harm her. But he wasn't sure how people could grow stronger if they weren't challenged. He figured between himself and Gaara, she would have plenty of challenges, both physically and mentally. After all, wasn't Sakura complaining all the time about how much he drove her insane? He'd hate it if that happened with Hinata, too. She was always patient with him when he didn't understand stuff and he was actually looking forward to getting the jutsu scrolls so she could help break down the written techniques for him.

He saw her walking down the hall through the window and shrugged mentally. It would all work out and if it didn't, well, Naruto would have to make it work. He didn't want to disappoint his new teammates after all.

Hinata smiled at him as she walked through the door and at sixteen, Naruto had to admit she made a pretty sight. Short and slender but not so skinny he'd be afraid to break her if he touched her the wrong way, her dark hair was always neat and tidy around her face and she always seemed filled with an inner peace that made him, with his constant motion, a little jealous sometimes.

"Oi, Hinata, where do you think Gaara is? I figured we should go pick up the scrolls so we could get started." Naruto pushed himself off the rail from where he had been leaning to fall into step next to her as she walked down the stairs.

She glanced around, "He's not here? I figured when he said he had to leave that he would go and come back so we could go get the scrolls. Hmm, maybe we should head out towards his apartment?"

Naruto slid his gaze over to her.

"Do you know where he lives?"

Hinata stopped walking and turned to look at him, "No, I thought you did!"

He shook his head with a sardonic grin and sighed. "Guess we better start walking then?"

"Well, we could always go back inside and ask?"

He shook his head, "Now where's the fun in that? C'mon! I think we should treat this as a mission! It could be the Find-Gaara-and-get-to-know-Hinata mission!"

Laughing, Hinata gave in and followed him down the rest of the stairs.

Gaara, meanwhile, had exited the building as quickly as possible without drawing any notice. His blood was singing in his veins and he could feel Shukaku roil around in his head angrily.

Disgusted with himself for being so weak as to fall under Shukaku's blood lust, Gaara's hands clenched into fists so tightly he felt his nails cut into his palm. It wasn't his own blood that was needed, however, and so Gaara headed into the forest.

Loathe to hurt innocent people and gratified that he now felt so, Gaara had been forced to resort to hunting game to suppress the demon under his watch. It was degrading to be ruled by such a creature, but with the pounding in his head and the constant worrying about hurting people and what they saw him as and how they felt about him, he had less control over the demon's emotional influence over him than he liked.

Flying across rooftops, Gaara could nearly feel the game under his hands waiting for the death blow. Sickened by his satisfaction at death (though he still had trouble differentiating between his and Shukaku's emotions when they were strong and fierce), Gaara wondered again how anyone could want to partner a monster such as himself.

Walking through the crowded market streets in the village, Hinata felt hostile eyes on her and refused to acknowledge them. The villagers were watching her walk with Naruto, she knew. She knew, yes, but she didn't care. She had long since gotten over worrying what the townspeople felt or judged or decided. As long as she was happy with herself and the people she cared about were happy, Hinata had decided that all others could take a running leap off the cliff that rose over the village. In fact, she tended to hope more for that to happen than anything else.

Any other day, Hinata would have walked past them with her head high and her mind clear, but she had felt Naruto stiffening beside her the longer they had walked the streets. He saw the people, too. Saw them and was bothered or hurt by them.

She wanted to touch him, to take his hand and show him she didn't care what other people thought, but she had never been could with casual touch and worried that it would look too fake or awkward to make him feel any better. So she had to settle for words.

"Naruto?"

He looked at her unhappily, tension lines around his mouth and crinkling at his eyes.

"Hinata, maybe we should just call it a day."

She stopped in the middle of the street, causing a nosy old lady to either walk around her or walk into her.

"We haven't found Gaara yet." Naruto dropped his gaze and pretended to study the street beneath their feet.

"Hey, Hinata . . .do you _really_ know what you're getting into by teaming up with us?" Clouded blue eyes traced the lines of the houses, the shops, the carts, anything but her. It felt good that he worried about her, but it hurt because he was worrying _because_ he felt it was his fault.

And as another disrespectful person walked by, making no attempt to hide his staring, Hinata's temper started to fray.

"Naruto, are you asking me if I know what you house or are you asking me if I care?"

His eyes shot up to meet hers and he frowned but he was honest, "A little of both, I think."

She smiled sadly at him, "I know and I care." Before his face could fall, she hurried on. "I care, Naruto, because it hurts you and it affects you and it makes your face drop and your smile disappear. I don't care about what other people say or do or think or feel. I only care what the three of us feel or think or do about it, okay?"

His smile was so beautiful and pure and whole that it blinded her to anything else around them and she wished, for a second, that she had brought a camera with her so she could have captured this one perfect moment.

Well, perfect besides the fact that one of their teammates couldn't be found, the townspeople looked ready to lynch them if they didn't start walking again, and she wasn't quite sure how to make their three-person team a success.

Falling back into step next to him as Naruto started walking again, Hinata decided that all those things didn't matter because they could find their missing teammate, they could ignore the villagers, and most of all, she knew they could eventually make their team work.


	6. Team Ice Cream

Title: Team: Part Six

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/8/04

Author's note: Sorry about the delay, I've hit finals week and a good friend of mine is getting married and I'm a bridesmaid so I had to take all my finals early and it was so hectic...anyway...part six is up!

Team: Part Six

She must have been insane to agree to this.

Hinata fumed silently as she paced around the classroom. Never had she met two moodier people than her male teammates. It was ridiculous!

She said as much to the two pouting men sitting in the front row.

Naruto dropped his chin into his cupped palm and glared at her. "I'm not doing that. It's stupid. How is that supposed to make me stronger? Who's idea was it to get those worthless jutsu scrolls anyway?"

Hinata sighed, resisting the urge to scream and pull at her hair in despair. They hadn't even made it through the first scroll yet and it had been over two weeks! Those two put up a fuss about every task, every lesson, every word they had to memorize. It was exhausting enough for her that by the time they made it out into the field to practice, her stamina was almost nothing. Which, of course, did nothing to appease her demonically-aided companions. Those two could go for hours and hours doing the same thing.

She leaned back against the desk in the front of the classroom, "Naruto, this is to help develop scouting jutsus, we've discussed this already."

Gaara snorted in disdain and turned his glare from the desktop to Hinata.

"What a waste of time." Ever since their last meeting with Tsunade, Gaara had been very cold and very distant. Hinata had gone into the team with this grand vision of helping Gaara turn his personality completely around to be the kind, caring, emotionally stable person she had created for him to be. But when they had finally found him that same day, Hinata had seen Naruto sniffing at Gaara discreetly and then backing away slightly. She hadn't understood until Naruto had told her later that Gaara had reeked of blood.

And even though she knew Gaara was infamous for his bloodlust, she had never been alone with it. Nor had she had to deal with his changing moods. Completely different from the Gaara that had stood defensively in Tsunade's office, the young man who had met them at the gates to the village that first day had been openly rude and dismissive.

Every day Gaara had a slightly different personality. Some days he was amicable, easy to work with on scrolls and almost comfortable to be around. Sometimes, when his lip quirked at a dry response from Hinata or a random joke from Naruto, he seemed almost normal, happy. So he had his good days. But he had his bad days, and more of them. Like today.

Today, Gaara was mean and condescending and completely unapproachable. As soon as she had entered the classroom where they usually met for the lesson time, she had spotted Naruto and Gaara in each other's faces. Knowing Gaara had most likely provoked Naruto (as had been the pattern), she had braced herself for a bad day.

And it certainly was a bad one.

"Hello? Earth to Hinata!" Naruto's voice jerked her out of her thoughts. Hinata looked at the two men in front of her and smiled sheepishly. Sometimes, with the endless puzzle that made up her team, Hinata got lost in her mind trying to decipher it all.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

Naruto sighed despondently, "Can't we skip the mission today, Hinata? I mean, c'mon! Searching for some stupid herb? Can't we do something more interesting, like traveling to somewhere dangerous and kicking some ass?"

Gaara's gaze slid over to the blonde and his teeth flashed in a mocking smile. "I'd be more than willing to kick your ass, if you'd like. We don't even have to go anywhere. I can do it right here."

Naruto growled and made to get in Gaara's face, "Okay, you jerk, I've had enough. You are one of the most annoying guys I have ever met. One more word and I'm gonna take you out, you got it?"

A hand made of tiny sand granules halted Naruto in his tracks and he snarled, fighting against Gaara's virtually impassible defense.

"Dammit, that's cheating! It's not like I whip out some giant fox to bite you in the ass or something to stop you!"

Hinata watched, wide-eyed as Gaara's own hand clenched, making the sand immitation grip Naruto's shirt harder and whip him towards the sand-nin.

Face to face, almost nose to nose, Hinata could see Naruto's eyes cross at the nearness of the other man.

Gaara's voice slithered across the room to where she stood and she shivered.

"Make no mistake, Uzumaki. You may think you people have trained me and _helped_ me and whatever the hell else you think you do to try and rationalize allowing me to even live among you but you're wrong." Gaara's eyes darkened with an inner fire that had Hinata stepping closer. His anger was entrancing, his face more alive than she had ever seen it.

"Do you know why you're wrong, Naruto?" Shaking his head numbly, Naruto thought he saw just how thin Gaara's control over the monster was. "Because this tame animal that you and your fellow villagers see me as is nothing more than a misconception that I feed you to keep from being annihilated. This control that you think I have over the demon that resides in me is hardly more than a slipping death-grip. It's inevitable that my control will snap. I _cannot_ control this demon inside me!" Tired of the pretending, tired of the lies, Gaara hoped to scare these people away so he could truly be alone. So he wouldn't have to worry about hurting people he was growing to care about or whether or not it mattered if the demon inside him finally wrestled the tenuous control away from him.

A gasp from the forgotten member of the team had Gaara jerking to look at Hinata. She was standing with her hand against her neck and was watching wide-eyed as Gaara attempted to break apart their recently-formed team.

Did he really want to know what she was thinking? Did he want to know if she knew he was doing this, not to hurt them, but to protect them?

The haggard face that glanced at Hinata had her heart in shattered pieces around her feet. She had never really thought what it meant for Gaara to not have help from a seal like Naruto had. His demon ran free in his mind.

Hinata, unable to stop herself from going to her teammates, found herself standing next to a livid Gaara and a more than nervous Naruto. She raised her hand slowly, as if approaching a wild animal (which in fact she was) and placed it on the sand-formed hand that still gripped Naruto's shirt.

It hardened more under her touch and she waited nervously for it to react offensively against her. Uncomfortable with close contact, Hinata wondered how she had enough guts (foolishness?) to actually initiate touch. She forced herself to meet Gaara's angry eyes and decided that if he was going to kill her, she might as well go all out. She smoothed her palm down the warm, sandy hand to where it connected to the gourd strapped across Gaara's back.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Gaara's eyes jerked from Naruto to the hand clutching his teammate's shirt back to Hinata.

"What do you want from me?" he asked hoarsely.

Hinata's eyebrow raised in surprise and she answered honestly, "I don't want anything _from_ you."

Hinata watched as the sand fingers shuddered and loosened fractionally. Naruto's breath whooshed through his mouth as he felt the pressure ease and he silently cheered Hinata on. However she was reaching inside to the (Naruto firmly believed) completely insane man next to him, Naruto wasn't sure. Didn't really care at the moment. He was just content to breathe freely again.

She was watching Gaara now, a thoughtful look on her face. "Have you ever had ice cream, Gaara?"

"Ice cream . . . no, I don't think so."

The sand fell completely away as Gaara regained a timid control over the bristling demon inside him. He squashed the urge to apologize to Naruto because it would ruin his carefully-wrought plan. He had changed his mind in the last couple of weeks. Wanting to change was one thing, he knew. Being able to was a completely different matter. He didn't think he could battle the demon inside him long enough to make a difference anyway.

Hinata sent an inquiring glance at Naruto, "Hungry, Naruto? It'll be my treat for making you do silly missions for the past two weeks."

Grinning, deciding not to push the issues that Gaara had clearly brought up, he pushed the incident with Gaara to a back corner of his mind to analyze later. Naruto launched himself at the door with a yell. "ICE CREAM!"

Hinata laughed and made to follow him. A warm, dry hand caught her wrist and she had to stop the reflexive reach for a weapon. Reminding herself to make one of their missions about getting used to casual touch, she turned to face her teammate.

"Why are you doing this? Can't you guys see that this isn't going to work?" Gaara's brow was furrowed and he looked uneasy.

Hinata shrugged and quirked her mouth wryly, "Guess we're not the type to quit a seemingly hopeless mission. Besides, we knew what we were getting into when we signed up for this." Well, not to the extent that she knew now, but certainly more aware than many people. "Want some advice, Gaara?"

He nodded warily and decided to give in for a while longer.

"Rocky road is absolutely divine."


	7. Team Ten Minutes

Title: Team: Part Seven

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/16/04

Author's note: Thanks for all the great reviews. Sorry about the lull between updates. I found that getting ready for a wedding was awhole lot more work than I had expected. It's done, however, and so is school for the semester. Hopefully, updates will come faster. Anyway, enjoy the next segment!

**Team: Part Seven**

Gaara sat off to one side of the training grounds, watching Hinata train with Naruto. They had given up on the scrolls for the moment, tired of searching for hard-to-find herbs or solving mathematical problems that seemed to get them no further towards their goal.

He watched his teammates spar, having already fought against Naruto. Eventually calling a draw, the two men had decided that focusing on Hinata's training for the day would be more productive.

But Gaara was beginning to question their decision. As time passed, Hinata seemed to get more and more frustrated with herself and with Naruto. To Gaara's trained eye, Naruto hadn't even begun to tap into his power. Instead, Naruto seemed focused on only blocking Hinata's attacks. While Gaara understood Naruto's reasoning behind holding back, he could practically see Hinata's blood begin to boil.

He leaned back against the tree trunk behind him, settling in for the argument he knew was about to come. Having trained with the two ninjas for a little over two months, Gaara had found that Hinata's seemingly demure personality (besides her sarcastic humor) hid a fiery temper and an even more powerful protective streak.

For reasons he couldn't begin to understand, it seemed as if Hinata had taken her two teammates under her sheltering wing. If people in the village made a move to say something against either man, Hinata's eyes would flash fire and her tongue would halt their words.

It made Gaara uncomfortable and content at the same time. On one hand, he was most definitely not used to people standing up for him. It made him wonder what exactly she was wanting in return. On the other hand, to have someone stand up for him was a novelty and it made him feel ridiculously warm and fuzzy inside.

But he had decided to ignore the niggling doubts in the back of his mind for a little while longer in order to enjoy the weather and the physical training.

"Dammit, Naruto!" His eyes settled on Hinata's panting form as she frowned at her sparring partner. Amused, he leaned further back against the tree and wished he had thought to bring along a snack for the show he was about to see.

Acting confused though he knew exactly why she was angry, Naruto stood from his defensive crouch and prepared himself for a shouting match. If he had known Hinata could be so damn forceful, he might have reconsidered this partnership. He had never realized she was so determined. It was for her own good, after all. He didn't want to hurt her during training and he still wasn't fully confident on his control over his power.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" He pasted a smile on his face, hoping to disarm her with his inbred charm . . . yeah right, like he was overflowing with that.

Hinata forced herself to take a deep breath, not wanting to fight with Naruto over the same thing again and again. Hating to argue with her team, she wanted to try a different approach. But if she kept getting angry, she wouldn't be able to try it.

"Hit me, Naruto."

Gaara's eyebrow rose in surprise. He hadn't expected her to stay calm and rational. When it came to training, Hinata was all fire and flash.

Naruto blinked. He looked away and back again. "Hit you?"

Hinata nodded. She didn't know where she had acquired this major temper when it came to their sparring. She thought it might have started when people really began to treat her like a wilting flower. She wanted to train. She had two of the most powerful ninjas in the village as her sparring partners and neither one would attack her! Ridiculous!

Shaking his head, Naruto took a step away from her. "No way, Hinata. I think we should call it a day."

Resisting the urge to beat her head against the ground, Hinata marched up to him and leaned in close.

"I don't understand, Naruto. Why won't you attack me?"

Naruto sighed, "Because I won't."

"How am I supposed to get better if you _won't attack me_? You can't always be worrying about my safety in battle! We're a team, which means we are, or should be, equals. I can't possibly begin to be on the same scale as you two if you don't fight me so I can see where I really stand."

He shook his head and stayed firm. "I don't want to hurt you. I'm not sure if I can prevent that. I won't attack you. I'm sorry. I thought I could do it, but you're my friend, Hinata." His eyes were sorrowful when they met hers and she struggled to stay angry.

"What if I attack you with everything I have? Will you fight back then?" She stepped back and dropped into a fighting stance.

"No."

She activated her byakuugan and began her attack. Swing first at the stomach, then the arm, followed by an attack to the knees, and up to the chin.

Again and again she hit him, forcing chakra into his body, closing off his chakra lines and still he refused to hit back.

Angry tears filled her eyes and frustration washed over her.

She began to chant as she hit him.

"Fight me, fight me, fight me, fight me."

Finally, she stopped, exhausted, and still Naruto stood, and still he refused to fight her.

Tears fell from her eyes and she angrily brushed them back. She wasn't sure whether they were tears of sorrow for the pain she inflicted on him or tears of anger because he refused to fight her, refused to acknowledge her as his equal teammate.

Naruto faced her, his face bloodied and his body aching. His heart ached because he knew it hurt her to hit him almost as much as it hurt her for him to refuse to fight her. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. Without the control needed to watch his power flow, the risk of hurting or even killing her was too high.

Gaara had watched the one-sided fight silently but he just couldn't watch anymore. He stood and walked to his teammates in the center of the field.

"I'll fight you, Hinata." Both teammates eyes flew to his and he felt uncomfortable under their scrutiny. Naruto's eyes, if they had been able to, would have had him flayed and tied to the ground in seconds.

She watched him warily, thinking this might be some half-hearted joke.

"Fight me?"

He nodded and glanced impatiently at the sun. The afternoon was coming to a close and he was feeling the effects of not eating a big lunch. He wanted food and he was ready for the training session to be over.

"Fine." Her voice was strong and sure and he thought he might have caught an undercurrent of excitement in her tone. Good. He wasn't going to enjoy destroying her hope of coming anywhere near their power, but he was sure it wouldn't be as quick as he would have thought two months ago.

Motioning for Naruto to leave the immediate area, Gaara didn't bother to see if he followed through before sending his first attack at her.

Caught unaware, Hinata was swallowed by a mountain of sand. Naruto's shout of shock was ignored by the sand-wielding ninja, who waited to see if Hinata could crawl her way out of the shifting sand pile.

As soon as he saw a hand peek through the top, he called his sand back and contemplated his next move.

Thoughts occupied by his dilemma, Gaara didn't notice Hinata racing towards him and thrusting her hand against his abdomen. A wave of chakra had him coughing blood and doubling over and he couldn't help but grin as he wiped at his mouth.

"You've got guts, Hinata, I can give you that much. But you've been waiting for one of us to attack with everything we have, and you won't stand a chance when I stop holding back."

She nodded seriously. "Good. Then we can start being logical and realize how much of a disadvantage I am to this team. Give me everything you've got, Gaara. Show me."

Gaara admired her inner strength and her determination and almost regretted when his hands began moving almost of their own accord.

As a wall of sand crashed down on her and swirled around her, Hinata could swear she heard Gaara's voice.

"If you last ten minutes, I'll buy you ice cream."

Her teeth flashed in a grin and she created a whirl of chakra to blast at the sand grasping at her feet.

Ten minutes? She could do that.

Another tendril of sand clutched at her waist and lifted her off the ground to slam her back into the dirt below.

An unwelcome groan left her throat at the impact and she stumbled to her feet as Gaara moved towards her.

A fist caught her in the chin and she fell back a step. She ducked the one thrown at her eye and barely managed to dodge the foot racing towards her stomach.

A hand made of sand caught her arm and tugged it sharply backwards and she struggled to get out of it's hold.

As sand began to curl at her ankles and blows rained down on her body, only one thought entered her head. Darkness crept at the edges of her vision.

Dammit. She had only lasted seven minutes.


	8. Team Rounding Up

Title: Team Part Eight

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/21/04

Author's note: Well, here's the next part. Lyfe.exe – you're right, I am sort of suffering from writer's block. I'm not really sure where I want to take this whole thing. I thought I had it planned out pretty well in my head, but it just never seems to work and I feel like I keep getting further and further from the actual true characterization...anyway, thanks to all for the great reviews and hope you like this next part.

Team Part Eight

"Hinata! Oi, Hinata! Are you alive? Can you breathe? Do you have sand caught in your throat from that bastard's attacks?"

"Don't be stupid, Naruto. If she had sand caught in her throat, she couldn't be breathing right now. I know enough not to kill her, dammit!" But Gaara was worried and more than a little upset. He had been anxious to end the training session and so had let loose a little more power than he knew she had been ready for. He should have known he couldn't have handled his power well enough to safely fight against her. Frustration swelled inside him. He needed to get stronger and safer to be around or Hinata wouldn't be safe around him.

And as much as it pained him to admit it, her safety was a constant thought in the back of his mind. Naruto, well, he didn't worry about Naruto handling his tempers and his occasional loss of control during training. But Naruto and Hinata were two different people with completely different ranges of power.

And he was beginning to care about his teammates. He worried that Naruto was constantly snubbed in the village, probably made worse by his association with Gaara and he worried when Hinata would show up to practice with her mouth painfully tightened and her eyes dark and hooded. He figured she was getting a lot of reactions (not many of them good) from the villagers and her family. Even if she didn't live with them anymore, Hinata was still forced to see them on the streets, to pass them in stores or in meetings.

It made him angry when his teammates' eyes were sad and their voices tired. It made him ache somewhere inside when Naruto's shoulders would slump after being rejected by yet another person or the way Hinata would avoid people all together because it made it easier to cope with life.

And it worried him whenever they got injured. And so even though Naruto was vocal and expressive in his worry over Hinata, Gaara resisted the urge to bite his lip or gnaw on his thumb as they anxiously waited for Hinata's eyes to open.

Naruto tried again.

"Hinata? You in there, girly? Time to rise and shine, miss fearsome warrior!"

Gaara snorted and thought it quite unlikely that anyone could mistake her for anything else when he or she got on Hinata's bad side. Even if she didn't have a lot of strength behind her fighting, her waspish tongue could flay any person alive if she got it in her head.

A move and a slight groan from their teammate had the two boys craning their necks to watch her.

Pinpricks of light shot through the darkness surrounding Hinata's vision and she blinked to get rid of it.

Groaning, she lifted her head, more than aware of how lightheaded she was and how sore her body felt.

Her eyes flashed open and the first thing they settled on was a nervous Naruto and an impassive Gaara.

"Guys? How long was I out?"

Naruto grinned when she spoke and handed her a bottle of water to quench the thirst she hadn't realized she had.

He rubbed his head and gave a laugh, "You certainly had us scared for a bit! You were probably out for a good half hour!"

Eyes wide, she handed back the empty bottle. "Really? A half hour? Wow."

"Thirty-two minutes and forty seconds, actually." Gaara watched her closely, looking for any lasting signs of pain in her eyes or confusion. Had she hit her head hard enough for a concussion?

His teammates looked at him in surprise and he fought a mortifying blush. He tried to shrug it off, "I happened to look at my watch just now . . ."

Hinata smiled at him and he found the urge to smile back at her ridiculous. He had almost killed her and she was smiling at him? Geez, the things he got himself into.

Naruto watched him curiously and he ignored the blonde man's inquiring gaze and focused on collecting his gourd and preparing to leave the training field.

Jumping up, Naruto helped a shaky Hinata to her feet.

She looked hopefully at him, "Did I make ten minutes?"

Flashing her a grin, he said, "Nah, but you were close. Seven minutes was a lot better than either of us thought you would do . . ." she narrowed her eyes at him and glared. He faltered and wondered how he could fix his statement, "Er . . . well . . . that is to say . . . you did well?"

She laughed helplessly because anything would have involved a long bout of self-pitying crying. "Oh, Naruto, admit it. I was awful. What was Tsunade thinking when she put me on the team? I'm only holding you guys back.."

She sniffed dejectedly and began walking towards the street leading back to her tiny apartment.

Naruto stood, watching her walk away helplessly, trying to think of anything to say to make her feel better.

He looked at Gaara, motioning towards their retreating teammate. When Gaara just stood there, watching Naruto with one eyebrow raised in question, Naruto sighed and stomped over to him.

"Say _something_, you idiot! You're the one she lost to!" he hissed into Gaara's ear.

Twitching from having the other man so close to his personal space, Gaara sighed and began walking towards Hinata.

She was walking slowly, so he didn't have to work too hard to catch up to her. When he was a few feet away, he called out her name.

She turned and he was sure she was half-expecting him to yell at her for being so awful. But the truth was that Hinata wasn't really that bad at her techniques and her abilities showed great potential. It was just that, and he knew this without arrogance, he and Naruto were so very powerful.

"Hinata, where are you going?"

She looked at him like he was stupid and he felt his eyebrow twitch. "Home, Gaara. I think I've been humiliated enough today. I need to go soak myself in ice cream and somehow manage to face you guys again tomorrow."

He notched his head in the opposite direction. "But the ice cream parlor is that way."

"What?"

He sighed, "Don't you remember? I owe you ice cream."

Her brow creased in confusion, "But I didn't last ten minutes, remember? You knocked me out cold at seven."

He lifted one shoulder in an indolent manner, "Guess I'm rounding it up then."

She let out a strangled laugh and walked back towards him.

Falling into step next to her, he found he didn't mind when her shoulder rubbed occasionally against his.

And when Naruto met up with them, chattering excitedly about what flavor of ice cream he was planning on making Gaara pay for, Gaara found he didn't even mind when Naruto's arm brushed repeatedly against his own.

He glanced at the girl beside him, debating flavors with his other teammate and he nudged her when the two teens paused for breath.

"You did well."

She smiled, suddenly shy. His heart lurched in his chest and he almost stumbled.

Eyes glinting mischievously at him, Hinata nudged him right back.. "You, on the other hand, were completely lax in your control. Remind me to find you a scroll to read on that tomorrow."

He did stumble then and stopped dead in the street.

"I lacked control? Are you insane? Your third teammate is a complete nut on the battlefield and you imply that I lack control?"

Amused, Hinata stopped to wait for him to catch back up. "There was no implying in that statement, Gaara of the Sand. You were lacking control."

His mouth worked, knowing she was right but not liking that she also knew she was right.

Naruto laughed at him and Hinata joined in and Gaara found, for once, that he didn't mind being laughed at, because he found himself joining in as well.

Owari

Once again, thanks for all the great reviews...KageOni1, you're right! I think Naruto was cautious about hurting her because he's starting to have feelings for her. The only problem is that I seem to be having difficulties working it into the story without one or the other of the two guys being left out. Every time I work it out in my mind, someone is left out in the cold. Sigh. :)

Janine- I hope Gaara satisfied a little of your sweet-tooth in this chapter! More to come, promise.


	9. Team Herbert

Title: Team Part Nine

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 01/08/05

Author's note: Sorry it took so long. This chapter is a little bit of fluff before I jump back into serious relationship building stuff. I think this type of interaction is just as important. Enjoy!

**Team Part Nine**

Naruto knocked on Gaara's door, shifting from one foot to the other in an absentminded habit he had yet to find a way to break.

They had a mission.

They had a _mission!_

Naruto hadn't been this excited since receiving his forehead protector. After being with his new team for close to five months, they were finally allowed to go back into the field.

Sighing irritably, he tried to glare holes through the door.

Back into the field if his teammate would ever open the door!

Raising his fist to knock again, he wondered if maybe he should have picked Hinata up first. Knowing how long it used to take Sakura to pack, he wasn't sure if all girls took that long or not.

The door jerked open and Gaara's dark-rimmed eyes glared back at Naruto.

The blonde tried a smile, "Hey, Gaara. Stopped by to pick you up, you know-"

Gaara interrupted with a growl.

"Go away, Naruto. I'm not interested in training today."

And with that, Gaara slammed the door in Naruto's face.

Blinking, Naruto stared at the closed door.

He raised his fist.

And knocked again.

And again.

And then again.

Finally, with no answer in sight and the clock ticking away the time they had before they had to meet up with the Hokage, Naruto took a step back and eyed the door from every angle.

Deciding the side with the lock was the weakest, he cracked his knuckles and began calling his chakra into his palm.

Grinning from the joy that came with any excuse to try new techniques, Naruto decided he just might create a new one in the memory of breaking down Gaara's door.

Glancing down to admire the blue chakra tinging his palm, he spread it out to hover over his hand. Mirroring the shape of his fingers, the chakra rose to hang in the air about six inches above his palm.

"Hmmm . . . should I use my fist? Maybe I should use the palm of my hand like Neji does. Or maybe I should just push it from my palm and make it like an arrow or something!"

As Naruto ran through all the possibilities, Gaara stood on the other side of the door, waiting for the blonde ninja to leave.

Confused because he hadn't left yet and Gaara had long since decided that he was in no mood for company today, he wrenched open the door.

"Naruto, why haven't you lef– "

And was met with a face full of Naruto's blue chakra.

He flew back and hit the wall behind him, the attack coming too fast for his sand to react.

Naruto stood gaping at him, frantically glancing from his palm to the crumpled redhead on the floor.

He grinned and pumped his fist into the air, "Hot damn, I got a new technique! What should I call it?"

Gaara glared at him as he painfully got to his feet. "How about the 'Get the hell out of my doorway before I kick your ass' technique?"

Naruto dropped his hand from the air and stared at Gaara.

Gaara sighed and moved to shut the door. The blonde was still staring at him, though. "What, Naruto?"

". . . that's a horrible name, Gaara. Someone else must have come up with the names of your techniques."

Heaving a sigh, Gaara pushed Naruto off his threshold and slammed his door shut.

"Oi! Gaara! We have a mission! If you'd ever let me talk, I could have told you that already!"

The door opened again to show a very disgruntled man.

"A mission? Why wasn't I notified?"

Naruto grinned and pulled a scroll out of his pack. "Tsunade named me team leader! I'm the first to be notified!"

Gaara eyed him balefully, "Is she insane?"

Naruto frowned in defense of his favorite old lady, "I hardly think you're in the position to talk, sand boy."

Knowing he was right, Gaara sighed and turned around, "I'll go pack."

Grinning, Naruto swung his pack onto his back, "Great! Hey, you can call me 'leader'! Or maybe 'boss'? Oooh! Call me 'fearless soon-to-be-Hokage, okay?"

" . . . kiss my ass."

Naruto eyed the firmly shut door and shrugged in defeat, "I'd settle for Naruto, I guess."

oooooooooooooooo

Hinata met her teammates at the door to her small apartment looking harried and not a little frantic.

Naruto grinned and shifted his heavy pack to the floor, "Yo, Hinata! Came by to pick you up for a mission – ah, Hinata? Is that chicken alive?"

Hinata looked down at the squawking bundle of feathers in her arms, "Ah, yes, actually. I was helping out this elderly lady yesterday and she didn't have any money. Even though I told her not to worry about it, she, well, she gave me this chicken." She smiled sheepishly at the two men looking at her incredulously as the chicken flapped its wings and made to bite the hem of her shirt.

Squeaking as it ripped a large mouthful out of her shirt, Hinata let go of the chicken in reaction and watched in dismay as it flapped and wobbled around the stairwell.

Naruto made a grasping lunge for it, but the chicken ran away from him and headed for the stairs. Hinata gasped and ran after it, scaring it even more and it made a leap off the balcony.

She ran into the rail and held out her hands imploringly as the chicken flapped and squawked and heaved gasping breaths.

"Oh no! Herbert! You're a chicken! You can't fly!"

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other blankly.

"Herbert?" Gaara said.

"You named a chicken, Hinata?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Too focused on her pet, Hinata made a frantic noise as she watched her chicken began to fall through the air.

Gaara sighed and sent out a hand, his sand mimicking the pose and catching the chicken in mid-air.

Hinata clapped her hands together in relief and Naruto let out a whoop as the hand of sand rose back to the landing where the three ninjas stood.

Sand, however, cannot think and therefore had no way of knowing how hard it could squeeze the chicken.

As the sand dropped the chicken, drops of blood splattered onto the cement stairwell.

Naruto stopped cheering and stared at the crooked neck of Hinata's chicken as it lay on the floor.

Hinata stared, aghast.

"Gaara."

Hoping he wasn't flushing, Gaara cleared his throat and quickly sent his sand back into its gourd. "Um, yes?"

"You broke my chicken."

He shuffled his feet and glanced at the dead chicken and then at his female teammate. "So it would seem."

Hinata looked at him with tears in her eyes, "You killed Herbert."

"I'm sorry?" What was he supposed to do? Buy her a new chicken? Did he have time before they had to leave for that? How much did a chicken cost anyway? He'd never actually bought a live one.

Hinata sniffed and walked through her door. "A mission, did you say? I'll go pack." She shut the door gently behind her.

Gaara looked at Naruto for guidance but the blonde had to swallow a laugh before he could say anything.

"You broke her chicken, man. What can I say?" He burst into laughter, doubling over with mirth. "You broke Herbert!" he gasped, "She won't ever talk to you again!"

Gaara waited for Naruto to get his breath back before he moved over to the chicken.

Glaring, the redhead stared at the dead chicken for a few minutes, as though willing it back to life. "She was just going to have to eat it anyway!"

A gasp from the doorway and both men turned to find Hinata with her hand over her mouth. "Eat _it_? _It_ had a name, Gaara! He was Herbert before you killed him and now you call him dinner? I never would have eaten him, ever! How can you say that? I can't believe you!"

She brushed past him and started down the stairs, pausing at the next landing down. "How would you feel if someone killed your squirrel and then tried to pass it off as dinner?"

Following her down the stairs, Gaara stared at her unbelievably, "For one, I'd be quite relieved actually, and for another, Shukaku is not a damn squirrel!"

Naruto snorted through his nose, close on Gaara's heels, "Eh, a rodent's a rodent, right Hinata?"

Gaara sent his elbow sharply into Naruto's stomach, satisfied to hear his breath whoosh out of his mouth. "Better a rodent than a flea-infested cat."

"Cat? _Cat?_! He's a fox! F-O-X, fox!"

"Isn't that more of a dog, Naruto?" Hinata's voice carried up through the stairwell.

"Ah-hah!" Gaara almost crowed, "Dogs certainly have more fleas than cats! That's even worse!"

"Why you bastard! Take it back, squirrel boy!"

Hinata forgot for a moment that Gaara had just snapped her new pet's neck in half as she listened to her two teammates joke back and forth. It was nice, for a change, for the two of them both to be happy and content. She only hoped the mission went as smoothly.

As she heard Gaara throw out another joking insult, she could almost forgive that Herbert lay upstairs, dead.

And then she realized that Herbert was laying upstairs . . . dead.

He'd have to work a little harder to get her complete forgiveness.

And then she heard her two teammates laugh at a really stupid comeback and her heart warmed inside her chest.

Well, okay.

He was forgiven.

It was easy, really, to forgive those two anything when they laughed.

When they smiled.

"For the last time, Naruto! I refuse to call you the 'soon-to-be-Hokage' during this mission! Hinata, back me up, here."

Hinata laughed as they walked out into the early morning sun, "He's right, Naruto, it is a bit of a mouthful."

"But guys! We all need code-names! Oh, Gaara, let's call you Herbert, in loving memory of the chicken!" Gaara twitched the fingers of his left hand and a wisp of sand slid under Naruto's feet and knocked them out from under him. He landed with a thud on his bottom in the middle of the street.

"Owwww . . . Gaara, careful! I bruise easy!"

Gaara held out a hand to help his fallen teammate up.

Before Naruto grasped his hand, he caught Gaara's eye, "Friends?"

Seeing him hesitate, Hinata dropped her hand next to Gaara's, "Friends."

Gaara nodded and took Naruto's hand in his. "Friends."

Naruto hooked his hand in Hinata's and they heaved him up.

He raced ahead of them, looking back and grinning, "Let's go kick some mission ass, you guys!"

The other two looked at each other and Hinata winked at Gaara.

Together, they turned back to Naruto and yelled, "Okay, soon-to-be-Hokage!"

A stunned but happy Naruto never noticed the bench before he fell over it and landed with an 'oof' in the street beneath it. But he didn't care. Because his friends were sure to help him pack on his feet.

His friends.

His.

oooooooooooooooo

Next: Their very first mission!

Sorry it took me so long to eek this out . . . and I know it was a little out of character, but I wanted them to have a little light-hearted moment and a little "getting to know each other" time.

KagiOni1-it actually has been planned to be a threesome because I can never decide which couple I like better :)

Sariachan-Marina-here's the mission part for you coming up. I hope it isn't moving too unrealistically for you here in this chapter.

neoastralpath-thanks for the reviews you leave, I'm hoping to get alone-time for one on one after chapter ten with the mission. I might split them up during the mission or something like that.

Cyberwing and LBK-glad you like it!


	10. Team DemonSpawn

Team Part Ten

01/09/05

Part Ten

The chicken forgiven and forgotten for the moment, Hinata, Naruto, and Gaara all entered Tsunade's office laughing and talking.

"I bet we have to save some village from an evil overlord! How cool is that? Maybe we'll even get to save a damsel in distress or the captured town friar!"

Gaara quirked an eyebrow at the excited man standing beside him, "Or maybe we'll have to go help some old lady weed her grass or buy her groceries or make soap."

"Oi, Gaara! Don't go giving the old lady over here any ideas! She might change our mission if she thinks you really wanna do crap like that, eh Hokage?"

Tsunade glared at the two men in front of her desk and then cast a sidelong look at Hinata. Hinata met her gaze with a rueful smile and a shrug of her soldiers as if to say, "hey, I can't control them either."

Standing up and placing her fists atop her desk, Tsunade cleared her throat loudly. Gaara and Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"I bet we have to go capture a magical creature or an S-class ninja!"

Gaara snorted disdainfully, "More like a rabid cow or a gambling man trying to escape his debts."

"AHEM! Gentleman, when you're ready, please?"

The two men still arguing turned their attention begrudgingly to their leader, who sat back down with a huff. "My goodness, you'd think you two grew up together let alone just started on a team together! How do you put up with this, Hinata?" The smile on her face belied her exasperated tone, letting the three ninjas know she was pleased with their progress as teammates.

Hinata flashed a small smile, "Well, you get used to it, Hokage. Comes with the territory." Tsunade laughed and motioned for the three ninjas to sit in the chairs sitting before her desk.

She handed each person a scroll and opened one herself.

And she waited.

And she peeked at the three before her. They were staring down at their scrolls.

And she waited some more.

Naruto was the first one to recover.

"EH? Old lady Hokage! What the hell is this? Some kind of joke, right? Right? _Right?_" Naruto slumped deeper into his chair, throwing his head back and covering his eyes with an arm. "Sick, sick joke. Of all the . . . are you having someone follow us? Cause there is no way you could possibly have done this cruel joke if you weren't! It's not fair!" He wailed to the ceiling.

Hinata concentrated heavily on the scroll in her lap. She kept having to swallow her laughter down and was struck by a sudden case of the hiccups. Hearing Naruto still wailing of the injustice of the mission, she burst into hiccuping laughter, bent over at the waist in her chair, clutching the arms to keep from falling out.

Gaara wondered idly if she was choking but decided if anyone could be making those noises, she had to be breathing. Giving in to his first impulse, he leaned over and tentatively patted her back, hoping to bring her back from the brink of insane laughter she seemed to be leaning towards.

Hinata finally managed to catch her breath, leaning back in her chair and giving a heaving sigh of relief. It had felt good to laugh like that. And even though they were going to get disgustingly dirty later on, she couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather do it with.

Of course, she thought as she looked at Gaara and smiled brightly at him, this could be seen as payback for poor Herbert in her hall.

Gaara gave her a grimace in return and turned his attention to Naruto. The poor blonde was still wailing to the ceiling and cursing the Hokage. Having had enough nonsense from his teammate, Gaara reached over and punched his arm.

"The faster we get this done, the faster you can go have ramen, Naruto. How bad can it be?"

Hinata nodded her agreement, "I'll even call ramen tonight my treat, okay?"

Naruto looked at his two teammates, tears pooling in his eyes, "But you guys! We have to herd _chickens!_"

Hinata burst into laughter again and Gaara shook his head resignedly.

It was going to be a long day.

A very long day.

oooooooooooooooo

Hinata stared in shock at the massive number of chickens running rampant through the woman's yard and even into her neighbors' lawns.

She closed her eyes and counted to ten.

Opening them, she was dismayed to find that not one chicken, not even one, had managed to make it into the pen that Naruto and Gaara were currently rebuilding.

Turning to the grey-haired woman standing next to her, Hinata cleared her throat awkwardly, "Mrs. Kiyoko, how in the world did all of these chickens get loose?"

Amika Kiyoko, mother of five young sons attending the Konoha ninja academy, flushed a deep red and let out a forced laugh, "Ah, well, you know how kids are, deary!"

Hinata nodded, though she really didn't know, having had no real experience with children. She was about to make her way through the sea of endless poultry to help her teammates when Mrs. Kiyoko grabbed hold of her hand.

Turning back towards the plump older woman, Hinata smiled, "Did you need anything else, Ma'am?"

Mrs. Kiyoko smiled back at her, "I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your help today. We do seem to have an awful lot of chickens, don't we?"

Hinata hummed an agreement and moved on to help Gaara and Naruto.

"Hey, Hinata, can you nail this for me?" Naruto was holding a large board of wood against a stout fence post, already sweating in the mid-morning sun.

Grabbing a hammer and some nails, Hinata pounded two pieces of wood back together, careful not to bash in Naruto's fingers.

She ended up following her teammates around the fence, securing planks of wood for the two men as they struggled with the awkward, heavy pieces.

When the last board was set in place, the sun was high in the sky and Hinata was sure it had to be close to noon. She wiped sweat from her brow and noticed both men were sweaty as well. Good, at least she wouldn't be the only sticky, smelly ninja walking back home in the evening.

Gaara eyed the chickens, heaving a tragic sigh, "This is going to take forever."

Naruto, having already waded into the sea of chickens, yelped as one nipped angrily at his fingers. "Ow! Dammit, hold still you stupid bird before I change my dinner plans from pork to chicken ramen!"

Although his threats made no progress with the chickens, Hinata and Gaara were suitably impressed by his varied ideas and curses.

Gaara muttered his share of cursing and swearing as angry chicken after chicken pecked, nipped, bit, and flapped at the three ninjas trying to herd them back into the fenced-off pen.

Hinata squeaked as another chicken flapped its way into the air right in her face. A nice solid whack with the flat of her palm at the squawking chicken landed neatly in the pen. "I don't think I've ever seen so many mean birds before!"

Growling, Gaara pulled a chicken from under his shirt and held it up in front of him, "I really wish you guys would stop referring to them as birds. In my book, they only register as dinner."

Laughing, Hinata shoved dark hair from her eyes and looked around. "Can you believe we've been working at moving chickens for almost two hours and we're not even half done?"

Naruto, feeling as though he was being watched, glanced around and found the object of his discomfort. Mrs. Kiyoko was glaring at him through the glass panes of her front window.

He tried to shrug it off, but as the afternoon continued, he just kept getting more uncomfortable by the minute.

Hinata noticed it and mentioned it to Gaara.

He shrugged, "She hasn't really left the window since she went inside. I don't know why he's bothered by it so much. He should be used to it by now."

Hinata frowned, "Yeah, but, her stare isn't really that friendly."

Gaara shot her a sardonic look, "Your point? When have stares directed at us ever been friendly?"

"Well, I've had just about enough then. He can barely stand still, it's making him so ill at ease! This is ridiculous." Pushing her sleeves up to her elbows, Hinata fixed her own glare on the woman at the window and marched up to it.

Mrs. Kiyoko was startled out of her staring by the sharp rap of Hinata's knuckles. A look at the young woman's face and Mrs. Kiyoka disappeared from view. Less than a minute later, she stepped outside the front door.

"Can I get you something, Hinata?"

"Is there a problem, Mrs. Kiyoko? If we aren't doing something right, you should let us know."

The older woman grimaced and sighed, "I do have a question."

Hinata crossed her arms over her chest. "All right."

Mrs. Kiyoko bit her lip nervously, her brown eyes flicking between Hinata and the two men currently dodging a chicken's latest attack. "Do you . . . well . . . that is to say, are those two who I think they are?"

Hinata felt her blood chill, "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

The older woman leaned over towards Hinata and whispered, "Are they the _demons_?"

Hinata stiffened and stepped out of range of the older woman. "I don't consider them to be, no. Is that a problem?"

Anger at the younger woman's curt words made Amika Kiyoko fearless, "Why, yes, indeed there is! I don't hire demon-spawn to help around my house. I was not informed that _those two_ would be coming today. If I had been, you can rest assured that I would have declined the help from the village leaders."

Hinata looked at the formerly nice older woman in shock. "Excuse me, did I hear you correctly? Did you just call my friends demon-spawn? Can you be so truly ignorant?" Hinata ignored the gasp the woman standing in front of her gave, and ignored the way her voice rose as she continued, "This is too unbelievable! Is every person in this village completely stupid?"

Naruto and Gaara looked up as soon as they heard Hinata shout. Wide-eyed, they shared a look before stepping hesitantly towards the irate woman.

Hinata blocked the front door with one arm as Mrs. Kiyoko tried to walk through it. "I'm sorry, did I give you the impression that I was done? No? Good." Hinata stepped forward, a little sick at heart at how she enjoyed when the older woman took a step back. But Hinata had finally had enough.

Feeling caged and restless, Hinata began pacing back and forth, "I have tried to be patient with this village. I've even tried to rationalize people's behavior in my mind. But, and let me be frank, I am at wit's end! I hate the fact that when I walk down the street next to my team, whispers and taunts and jeers follow us. I hate that people stare at them as if they're monsters. I even hate that we only go to that damn ramen vender because it's the only one that Naruto feels comfortable around."

She stopped her restless movement and stood in front of the stunned woman. "I am even beginning to hate people. Individuals, Mrs. Kiyoko. I have never before truly hated a person. Until now. And you fit very neatly into that category."

Naruto stepped forward and held out a hand, "Um, Hinata? Maybe you should stop while you're ahead?"

Hinata shook her head and laughed a little shrilly, "I don't think so, Naruto. I'm covered in chicken poop and dirt and grass. I have splinters in every finger and bite marks up to my elbows. Hell, I even think some chicken tried to grope me!"

Stepping down the front steps, Hinata walked to their packs, grabbed them and marched over to Gaara. Thrusting his into his hand, she tossed Naruto his and began to leave the front yard.

Halfway down the drive, she stopped, turned, and shouted at the women still standing on her front porch. "You know what else, Mrs. Kiyoko? The only demon-spawn I see in this yard are your damn chickens!"

And with the last word, Hinata practically skipped down the street.

She didn't notice her two teammates bemused, worried faces as they trailed behind her.

oooooooooooooooo

Author's note: Thanks for all the great reviews . . . Chapter nine might have felt a little random, and I think it was a bit, but I needed just a friendly bit of laughter before and after a lot of angst.


	11. Team Home

Okay, I'm back with more of _Team_, and I hope you guys can forgive the long delay.

Team Part Eleven

**Home**

On the way back to the Administration building to file a report for their mission, Hinata was rapidly starting to regret her actions during the "chicken fiasco." Her teammates had yet to say a word, and they trailed behind her by a good four feet or so.

She blinked back tears of frustration and remorse and hurt. Dammit, she had meant every word she had said to Mrs. Kiyoko. But she shouldn't have let her temper get the best of her, shouldn't have been rude to a paying customer. It was just that Hinata was so discouraged.

It had been almost five months since she had joined her team but so little progress had been made. She knew it was, in part, due to the fact that she was so much weaker than her teammates. It was also because every step they took was monitored and judged and ridiculed by the village. She felt stifled and harassed and angry constantly. And if she felt that way, she knew that Gaara and Naruto must be feeling it, too.

She heard low voices behind her. Were they talking about her?

She risked a glance back at her teammates. They avoided her eyes, Naruto almost popped his neck out of joint pretending to "enjoy" the scenery while Gaara studied the dirt he was walking on. Had she embarrassed them that much? She turned back to the front and grasped her knapsack tighter against her abdomen.

Feeling sorry for herself, and sorry for her teammates, Hinata didn't notice when Naruto widened his stride to catch up to her.

"Hinata– " startled out of her morose thoughts, Hinata jerked at the sound of her name and dropped her sack.

Her face heating, she bent to pick it up at the same time Naruto did, both mumbling apologies. It was awkward and she felt stupid and she fumbled even more when they knocked shoulders and their hands brushed.

Naruto and Hinata both backed up and with a muffled swear, Gaara swooped down and picked up the pack.

"Here, Hinata." He handed her the knapsack and waited until he was sure she had a firm grasp on it. "We need to talk." His voice was quiet but he sounded hesitant and a little angry.

Stricken, Hinata looked at Naruto. He flushed and jerked his head in the direction of an open area just before the village gates.

With a calm demeanor she certainly didn't feel, Hinata sank onto a wooden bench and set her bag at her feet. She kept her hands locked together tightly in her lap, because she feared she would start fidgeting or trembling.

Gaara and Naruto didn't take a seat beside her. Instead, they stood in front of her, about three feet away. Naruto glared at Gaara, and Gaara glared back. Naruto sighed and took a small step forward.

"I'm not really sure how to say this, Hinata . . . you know I'm not that great with words and stuff. But, today, with the chicken lady, well, I . . . err . . . that is to say . . . we . . . well–"

With a huffing sigh, Gaara interrupted. "We didn't know you felt that way. We didn't realize that being with us in front of the village affected you so much. It was never our intention to hurt you or to embarrass you and so we apologize and understand when you report to Tsunade and request a transfer." He kept his eyes above Hinata's head, as if he was watching trees instead of her expression. Naruto was kicking at a half-buried stone in the ground at his feet.

Silence.

Naruto risked a glance up at Hinata's face and gave a sharp cry of dismay. "Are you crying? Don't cry! What can I do?"

Gaara's sharp gaze shifted to Hinata and his eyebrows drew down in a tight frown. His statement wasn't supposed to have made her cry. It should have relieved her, made her feel better. Well hell, now he really knew he'd never understand women.

Hinata pressed one hand over her mouth to stifle a sob and shook her head frantically at Naruto's words. They thought she was upset _because_she was with them? Did they not see she was upset because of the things the villagers did to them?

Naruto crouched down in front of her, " Hinata, we need to know why you're crying. Otherwise, we can't fix it. Please tell us . . . we won't be hurt that you don't want to stay with us. Honestly."

Gaara knew Naruto was lying, could almost smell it on him. Having Hinata, who he had thought was managing pretty well with their moods and their faults and their demons, not be able to handle them would be the last straw. He was pretty sure they'd both end up leaving the village, simply because there would be no place for them. Either of them.

Managing to control her tears, Hinata brushed at her wet cheeks. She motioned Gaara closer, and kept waving her hand at him until he was seated beside her on the bench. Naruto still at her feet, she reached tentatively for words to explain herself.

Quietly, she said, "You two are the most caring people I've ever met. I . . . I've never had people worry about me like you do, or care that I cry or hurt or get upset. It's overwhelming and wonderful and frightening all at the same time."

She smiled down at Naruto, a smile that took his breath away because it was caring and sweet and wonderful and _accepting_, and she raised her face to Gaara and gave him a smile, too. He shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the way she made him feel–clean, decent, likeable, human–and let his arm rest against hers.

Naruto rested a hand on her knee to keep his balance, "We hurt you and we never wanted to. We're sorry."

"You never hurt me, you dolt." she said with a warmth to her voice that took away the sting of the nickname. "I'm just so frustrated with the bigotry and the insults and the rudeness and the _hate_ that fills this place. Being on this team with you, while showing me how far behind I am in skill, has set the base for a friendship and a support system that all three of us need. I don't want to lose that. I refuse to. Don't let them chase you two away. This could be your home, if you want it to be. Do you?"

Naruto sniffed surreptitiously and hoped neither of his teammates noticed his damp eyes. When Hinata's hand tentatively covered his, he knew she saw his teary expression but he didn't really care. He reached out a hand to Gaara and felt a burst of warmth in the bit of his stomach with the former Sand ninja gingerly placed his hand palm to palm with Naruto.

"I want this." Naruto's voice was firm and steady though his hands shook the tiniest bit.

"I want this." Hinata's voice was soft but warm and accepting.

Gaara had to clear his throat before he was sure his voice would work. Saying these three simple words aloud would risk more than he ever had before. But he felt Hinata's arm warm against his own and Naruto's hand strong in his and knew it was worth it.

"I want this."

Watch out, Konoha, Gaara thought, we're coming home.

* * *

More to come this week. On with the plot, says I! 


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